Sunday, April 20, 2014

That's the Message

Matthew 28:1-10

April 20, 2014/Easter Sunday

Christ
is risen!He is risen indeed!

Another pastor in
another sermon wrote that we have a much easier time preaching Good Friday than
we do Easter Sunday.That seems wrong or
at least counter-intuitive, but I understood her meaning.Although I don’t like to admit it, I have to
agree with her.In many ways it is
easier to preach Good Friday.While we
may not like death or seek it out, death is something we expect.Death is something we count on.But resurrection?That is a different story.It’s not just that we can’t ever begin to
comprehend or explain what have happened in that tomb; it’s that resurrection
and new life seem far away from the world we generally live in.So though my colleagues and I might claim
otherwise, it is easier preaching Good Friday than it is today.

Good Friday – a day of
betrayal, denial, cruelty.Love Himself
was put on trial, and ignorance and fear served as the jurors.Injustice occupied the judgment seat.It is no wonder that darkness descended for
three hours.It is no wonder that the
earth shook when Jesus exhaled his final breath.It is no wonder that all creation rolled and
reeled with the horror of that moment.Love Incarnate was crucified.Death was all around.That’s how
the world still feels.That seems to be
the premise on which the world and all that is in it rests upon.It seems as though we live in a world where
nothing but death is all around.We
experience it personally with the death of people we love.We see it in our communities, and we can’t
help but witness it in the world.This
past week the news of the capsizing of South Korean ferry has filled me with immeasurable
heartache.Seeing the fear and grief of
the parents and family members of those who are still missing is
heartbreaking.In the weeks before that
the news about the shooting at Fort Hood and the stabbing at a high school, the
missing Malaysian airplane, the mud slides in Washington State, all of those
events and more break our hearts.They
are tragic and awful reminders that death is all around.We may not like it or want to concede it, but
it seems as though we live in a Good Friday world.

But even though we can’t
always recognize it and the world seems to proclaim otherwise, Good Friday is
over.

Sunday,
Easter:The Sabbath is over and it is
the first day of a new week.In
Matthew’s gospel it is two women who make their way to the tomb where Jesus’
body was laid.They must have carried
spices and oils; the accoutrements of the grave.Guards stood watch.Yet even more imposing than their menace was a
rock; seemingly immovable it stood between the women and their Rabbi.Just as it did on Good Friday, the earth
shook.All creation rocked and reeled as
an angel descended, and rolled back that stone.After it was moved, the angel sat on it, a messenger with good news to
deliver.His appearance flashed and
shone, like an unceasing streak of lightning.His clothing gleamed like new snow.The guards, who once did the frightening, now shook and trembled at the
sight of this heavenly host.They fell
into a dead faint.But the women
remained.“Do not be afraid,” the angel
told them.“I know you are looking for
Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised as he said.Come see the place where he lay.”

Do
not be afraid.Angels have been uttering
those words over and over.Gabriel spoke
them to Zechariah when he gave the old man the news that he and his wife Elizabeth
would have a son, a great prophet, John.Gabriel reassured Mary with these words when he told her that she would
bear the Son of God.Joseph heard “do
not be afraid,” when he considered divorcing Mary over her unexpected
pregnancy.Shepherds, the lowliest of
the low, heard these words ring out from the heavens on the night of Jesus’
birth.Do not be afraid!

Do
not be afraid!Our senses may tell us
that our world and each week is made up of seven Good Fridays, but this day,
this resurrection day gives testimony that there is more than we can see or
hear, smell or touch or taste. There is
more than we can know or understand.Jesus is not in the tomb.Jesus
is resurrected.He is risen and with the
rolling back of that stone, life and love was once more let loose in the
world.Do not be afraid!

Do
not be afraid.Easter, the resurrection,
our faith in the risen Christ, is not a magic wand or spell that takes away all
of the bad things in the world.It does
not keep us from dying, or from grieving when those we love die before us.But our proclamation that Jesus is risen is our
statement of hope.

We
will not be afraid, because we know and we believe that the darkness did not
and will not last.We will not be
afraid, because we believe that the powers and principalities that kill
prophets and hung Jesus on the cross did not win.We will not be afraid, because we trust that
the love of God in Christ is more powerful than hate.We will not be afraid, because we believe
that love triumphs.It defeats
death.It wins over destruction.It is greater than the worst we can do to one
another.Love triumphs.Do not be afraid.

When
I served as a seminary intern in a church in the 90’s, a tornado went through a
town in Alabama on Palm Sunday.Along
with damaging homes and businesses, it laid low a church, demolishing the
sanctuary.The pastors of that church
were a clergy couple, and the husband and one of their children were killed in
the terrible storm.

It
was awful to hear about.It was awful to
read about.Everyone in my congregation
grieved for these people and their terrible loss.But the next week, Easter Sunday, the
minister, her family and her congregation gathered in the midst of their broken
building.They literally gathered in the
rubble of the sanctuary, and they worshipped.They held their Easter service in that rubble.They worshipped.They gave thanks.They praised God, and they proclaimed that
Jesus is risen.He is risen indeed.Their loss, their grief, their heartache was
acute.It had not vanished in one week,
but still they worshipped.The coming of
Easter did not mitigate their loss, but still they worshipped.They worshipped because they trusted in the
power of resurrected life over death, and the triumph of love.They heeded the angel’s words.Do not be afraid.

The
angel told the women to go quickly and tell the disciples about Jesus’
rising.He told the women to share the
good news of the resurrection.He told
them, just as angels had told so many others before, “Do not be afraid.”That was his message of good news.That’s our message of Good News as well.That’s our message to proclaim to a broken
and hurting world.Do not be
afraid.Death does not have the final
word.Do not be afraid.Hope is alive.Do not be afraid.Love is present in the world and in our
midst.Do not be afraid.The tomb is empty.The grave could not hold Jesus. New life,
eternal life, resurrected life is now and forever more.Do not be afraid.Jesus is risen.He is risen indeed!Let all of God’s children shout in a loud
voice, “Alleluia!Amen.”